Posted on 05/27/2006 7:21:50 PM PDT by Fair Go
A US-BASED pressure group has warned Australia that its invited military intervention in East Timor to quell unrest did not entitle it to interfere in the country's government. The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network said it was concerned about the situation in East Timor, where the government, with the stated support of rebel leaders, requested the deployment of foreign forces to stem escalating violence.
"Timor-Leste must find ways, with respectful support from the international community, to deal with problems in a manner that will not require troops," ETAN said.
"Statements by Australian government leaders that providing security assistance entitles them to influence over Timor-Leste's government are undemocratic, paternalistic, and unhelpful."
"Who governs Timor-Leste is a decision to be made by its people within its constitution," the nongovernmental organisation (NGO) said in a statement.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Friday said that East Timor, where Canberra has ordered 1,300 soldiers to be sent to help quell a military rebellion, has a "significant governance problem."
"If things get out of control, and they clearly have, and outside help is needed, then those who provide the outside help are entitled to ask those who they are helping, 'Will you make sure that you run the country in future in a way that this doesn't allow this to happen,"' he said.
ETAN blamed Australia for much of the problems in the tiny fledgling country, which gained independence from Indonesia in 1999.
"Australia bears special responsibility for Timor's underdevelopment by refusing to return revenues, totalling billions of dollars, from the disputed petroleum fields in the Timor Sea, including Laminaria-Corallina, and by bullying Timor-Leste into forsaking revenues that should rightfully belong to it under current international law and practice," the NGO said.
"Australia should not view its current assistance to Timor-Leste as a favour, to be repaid, but instead as a partial repayment for the debt Australia owes the Timorese people for its help during WW (World War) II and for Australia's deep complicity in Indonesia's invasion and occupation."
The NGO's remarks echoed those of Portugal's foreign minister, Diogo Freitas de Amaral, who rapped the Australian prime minister for criticizing the authorities in East Timor, which Lisbon ruled for four centuries.
"We consider this an interference in the internal affairs of East Timor and ... we disagree with this kind of statement by foreign countries," said the Portuguese minister as new violence rocked the poverty-stricken country's capital Dili.
Portugal has ordered 120 troops to help put down the violence in East Timor, which Lisbon turned over to Indonesia in 1975.
Yeah, those Portugese are nothing but trouble, let's get 'em!
This is perfectly reasonable, and I wish our own State Department would apply this standard.
Note that the anti-American and anti-Australian meddlers have been active in East Timor:
http://www.etan.org/
I wonder how much they have contributed to the present situation?
If you take NGOs as a whole, a good case could probably be made that they do more harm than good. Of course there are exceptions.
Tell 'em to get stuffed.
They are starting to have a big influence in places such as the UN. They need watching and there has to be some form of accountability.
Any organization which features a message from Noam Chomsky on its website is definitely suspect. And the banner at the top about the struggle continuing has a definite Marxist pedigree.
You might be interested in this site:
http://www.etan.org/
And how many regiments does ETAN have in the field?
More to the point, is anyone from this group risking his hide to "stem escalating violence"?
No? Just mouthing platitudes from 10,000 miles away?
Then I think they can be safely ignored. If we need to be yammered at, we'll get them on the phone right away.
However, having had a look at ETAN's web site, it appears they're just the usual garden-variety clueless lefties.
A couple of years ago this was a combat zone in the war of Muzzies vs. Everybody, and it can become one again.
The same anti-war anti-American and anti-Australian left group has also raised the same old tired "war for oil" red herring on East Timor:
It seems that East Timor wanted to claim part of Australia's continental shelf and Australia said no. However, the West has been meddling in East Timor for some time. Have a look at this site:
http://www.etan.org/
Their d***s?
L
They are related to the blog link I posted. This is one heck of confused group. Well, it just shifts support to whatever group that opposes America the most. In the 1980s/90s the US had desires to see Indonesia not actively supporting Communists, while East Timor's FRETLIN was officially Marxist and tied with Afrco-Marxists like Mozambique's FRELIMO. So they supported East Timor.
Fast forward to 2002. Bin Laden is now America's enemy number 1 and Indonesia, since it is Islamic, and bin Laden is now opposing East Timor, they now shifted supported to Inodnesia.
Both John Howard and George Bush are keen to see the present secular government in Indonesia survive. Indonesia may be an islamic country, but at least the government is secular. There is also a lot of cooperation between Indonesia, the US and Australia in rooting out islamic terrorists. The last thing they want is an Islamic theocracy in Indonesia. I just wish all the left wing nutters would keep their noses out of this part of the world. I have no doubt they are encouraging separatism in places like Papua. All their meddling can achieve is a lot of bloodshed as is now happening in Timor.
They are using a two-pronged strategy. On one hand they stir up separatism and blame the US assisting oppressive regimes friendly to it and that regime is so repressive that it is overlord to a people. When the US and the West wake up and do a 180, they then go to that oppressive regime and say the US is behind the plot of sessionism in order to make new "protectorates".
I see the likes of ETAN playing this two-pronged strategy.
I just wish more people were aware of trouble making groups such as these. They haven't got a clue.
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